Tuesday Report from Biloxi

Yesterday, Monday, was a hot and sultry, but great day here. My colleague, Jay, from Lord of Light in Ann arbor, worked in the health clinic here at the church, wearing his Social Work hat rather than pastoral. He was in his element as he did Case Management and some Intake, but mostly coaching and supervising a terrific crew of 6 young women from American Corps. I did pastoral counseling for the day, and found out that I am filling up with Katrina stories so that I really need to get back out to home rebuilding sites. Besides the clinic work, we began our day with trash, clean-up and latrine duty. Bags and bags of styrofoam plates and cups and plastic table ware. It's a garbage hauler's heaven, but continued death to the earth. I did the same this morning, and Jay did his Social Work all day today, but around 10 I put on my clergy shirt and left the clinic in the hands of two pastors from Virginia and Georgia. I walked across the street to the FEMA site, intending to offer support to staff there. The two directors met me very cordially and explained that FEMA has its own support folk. But the receptionist for the Parks and Rec, who run the building, suggested that I look around the whole place. It is a wonderful rec facility, and I stopped to visit with a woman on an exercise bike, who told me her Katrina story. She is a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, whose building had stood right across the highway from the water. It is totally gone! Only a small Episcopal flag flies at the site. They now meet for their 3 services in a double-wide trailer.

After that visit across the street, I drove out to the site where we had begun demolising a very old house last Friday. It was now down to just a few pieces of lumber and some bricks and front steps and general debris. There was a team from America Corps plus some Lutheran Disaster REsponse volunteers. None of them were wearing masks, and the dust was fairly thick. I had mine on and I offered my other 3 to anyone who wanted one. None of them accepted! Not even the team leader was wearing one. Soon the FEMA subconctractor who was picking up this huge pile of filthy debris came by and chastised them for not caring enough for their health to wear proper precautions.

That was only one hour on that job, then we ate at a Salvation Army feeding site for volunteers -- lots of disaster food: the standard hot dish prepared for such sites from wherever, shipped here, heated and served along with plain bread, chips, etc. I was rather tired, so went back to the church and crashed for a few minutes on my pad. Then I did my best to bring some order to a janitor's closet that gets "beaten up" by a new set of volunteers every week. Early this morning I drove over to Gulfport to find vacuum cleaner bags and mop heads for use here.

On the weekend I met a Missouri Synod Lutheran Pastor who is his own disaster relief and crisisministry, approved by the Synod, but support stricly by his own efforts. He flies around the country wherever necessary alaong with his handsome Golden Retriever, Georgie, who wears his vest that states "K-9 Crisis Chaplain." What a team! The pastor seems to have success in getting into FEMA offices and work sites, and offered to take me along today. But when I called him this forenoon, he was on the road to a site in New Orleans. I doubt I'll get to go with him, since Jay and I expect to get out to rebuilding sites tomorrow and Thursday.

For Jay's birthday, we sang "Happy Birthday" at breakfast yesterday, then one of my cook friends baked him a cake and we put 3 candles on it for April 3. When we brought it out for dinner last night, I commented: "Some folks come down to Bethel/Biloxi to do volunteer work; others come down to celebrate their 70th birthday, like Jay Haite."

Well, we're nearly ready for another disaster relief dinner. Jay and I are truly enjoying the experience with so many other wonderful volunteers and especially the chance to work alongside of these Bethel Church folks and the residents of Biloxi. Talk to you another time. Take care!

Roland and Jay